Sewerage & Water Board's in-house electrical power plant needs a major upgrade

Recent failures of the Sewerage & Water Board's in-house electrical power plant, including one that prompted November's two-day boil-water advisory and another that caused severe street flooding Uptown in 2007, have laid bare what officials have known for decades: the facility needs a major upgrade.

View full sizeChris Granger, The Times-Picayune archiveThis gas compressor that helps create power for many of the city's pumping stations was photographed in May 2007 at the Sewerage & Water Board site on South Claiborne Avenue.

Built at the turn of the 20th century, the private plant generates electricity at a frequency, 25 cycles per second, that largely fell out of use before World War II. But it has remained in service because it creates the type of power needed to run the water board's oldest and strongest drainage pumps, which serve the city's western core and part of Jefferson Parish.

The plant also powers key elements of the east bank's drinking water distribution system. And because in-house power is transmitted via buried conduit, it isn't affected by strong winds that often cause Entergy's commercial power grid, which runs some critical S&WB equipment, to go down.

Given the in-house power plant's age and the fact that it runs 24 hours a day, S&WB officials began lobbying Congress in 2004 for money to build a new plant or completely restore the existing one. They ramped up their efforts after Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the facility and hastened its decline.

In light of the boil-water incident and another failure last month that caused water pressure to drop briefly, Mayor Mitch Landrieu has joined the chorus.

"Of the Sewerage & Water Board problems, the most critical piece is the power plant," the mayor said last week, noting that the facility will be at the top of his agenda during a trip this week to Washington that includes a sit-down with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.

"It's such a huge piece of infrastructure that's so critically important that so many people take for granted," he said.

Overhauling the current plant is sure to be a colossal, expensive task -- and one that FEMA probably won't undertake entirely. Because the plant was already old when the storm hit, federal law doesn't allow the agency to spring for a new one, though FEMA recently agreed to pay for critical, flood-related repairs that could go a long way toward rehabbing the existing facility.

Meanwhile, a one-time federal appropriation isn't likely in the cards, particularly given the realities of a divided Congress in which earmarks have become anathema. Moreover, the cost of a new plant, which could reach as much as $1 billion, far exceeds what Congress will pony up, several Louisiana lawmakers said.

'A very large price tag'

"This is a very large price tag which would be unusual to fund through one infrastructure program or all at once," U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a Republican, said in an e-mail message, adding that he's committed to "working ... on this challenge."

An aide to Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu noted that the age and complicated nature of the S&WB's infrastructure means that "its needs outpace the resources available in a federal program."

Acknowledging that recent problems at the plant could help the water board's efforts to secure financing -- though more likely at the local and state levels than in Washington -- Landrieu nevertheless will continue to support S&WB projects, her aide said.

Meanwhile, the S&WB's strapped 2011 operating budget doesn't permit the agency to issue any new debt to finance a major overhaul of the power plant. The day-to-day operation and maintenance of the power plant are paid for with monthly water fees, as well as property taxes dedicated to drainage services.

Despite the fiscal roadblocks, the mayor said he thinks FEMA still owes the S&WB a significant sum to cover collateral damage to the power plant since Katrina. The plant first had to work overtime to pump floodwater out of the city, he said. Since then, it has maintained a grueling pace because of the increased demand for purified water, about half of which leaks out of the underground pipe system through fractured lines.

"Everything is working harder, and it's wearing out quicker," Landrieu said of the power equipment.

Even if FEMA comes through to a large degree, Landrieu said residents need to "make the investments we need so that we can be safe," possibly including increased fees and property taxes.

S&WB leaders, meanwhile, say they'll continue to press for help from Congress. "We haven't met an unsympathetic ear," S&WB Executive Director Marcia St. Martin said recently, referring to Capitol Hill lobbying efforts. "It becomes a question of what is the federal priority."

New plant would cost bundle

A study commissioned almost 20 years ago that homed in on the outdated nature of 25-cycle equipment recommends that the S&WB expand its South Claiborne Avenue campus, the site of the current power plant, and construct a modern, commercial-grade power facility to replace the 25-cycle plant.

Underground transmission lines would remain in service and connect to the new plant, which like Entergy would produce power at 60 cycles per second. Meanwhile, pumps that run on 25-cycle electricity would be modified to use the new power source; without alterations, the pumps' motors would burn up if they simply were switched to the 60-cycle power source.

Because critical equipment could not be shut down for extended periods during construction, the switch-over was slated to take 20 years, according to the 1994 report by CH2M HILL and C&S Consultants.

The estimated cost: $199.6 million, including buying two to three square blocks in the Hollygrove neighborhood, a notion that met with strong opposition when it was floated in the late 1990s. Swamped by the 2005 flood, the area is now partially blighted.

Today, the price tag for the consultants' recommendation could be much higher, perhaps reaching $1 billion, the water board's general superintendent, Joe Becker, said recently, adding that officials are working to come up with a new target figure.

Cheaper upgrade route

Another option, which officials describe as the more likely alternative, would be to overhaul the current 25-cycle power plant using a combination of new equipment and replacement parts that would allow the facility to continue chugging along for another 50 to 100 years, Becker said.

While that option also likely would take decades because turbines, boilers and other equipment would have to be updated one by one so the plant could continue operating, the alternative would be relatively cheaper -- an estimated $180 million -- both because land wouldn't be needed for a new plant and because existing pump motors would not need to be modified, officials said.

It also would allow the S&WB to continue using the type of electricity that has served the city for more than a century with just four breakdowns -- all of them occurring since Katrina.

Despite the cheaper price tag, there is still vigorous debate about whether the city should continue to rely on antiquated 25-cycle power, versus switching to the modern 60-cycle frequency.

"Both of them are very expensive, and they're both going to take a long time to pay for," said Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who toured the plant last week. "It may very well make sense to renovate what it is that we already have."

Outmoded power frequency

The quality of electricity is not in question. Just because it's generated at a slower frequency, 25-cycle power is not inferior to 60-cycle power, Becker said.

Instead, the issue is the cost and the availability of the equipment needed to run the plant and the 25-cycle pumps.

Because it fell out of fashion more than a half-century ago, 25-cycle parts tends to be more expensive and harder to find, Becker said, adding that it's also difficult to locate contractors with the expertise to handle major repairs.

For instance, repairs to an enormous turbine at the power plant that busted last month, causing water pressure to plummet, might take twice as long because of the unique parts and knowledge needed to fix it, Becker said during a public meeting this month.

At the same time, the fact that 25-cycle motors turn more slowly than their 60-cycle counterparts means less wear on critical machinery, Becker said. Systems that run on 60-cycle power also generate more heat, which requires additional costly equipment to dissipate, he said.

"We think there are a lot of advantages of 25-cycle power," Becker said. "The one disadvantage is that it's just not the industry standard."

Other stations, other cycles

Indeed, the expense and limited availability of outmoded 25-cycle equipment prompted the S&WB in the 1970s to begin implementing modern standards at new pump stations, most of them east of the Industrial Canal, officials said. New drainage equipment installed during the past four decades runs on 60-cycle power purchased from Entergy and is backed up by on-site diesel generators, or access to them, when Entergy power fails.

For instance, the Janke and St. Charles pump stations along Hayne Boulevard have generators on site, Becker said. The Citrus station, which sits between those facilities along the lakefront thoroughfare, lacks a generator, but underground lines connect it to generators at the neighboring stations.

A similar system is in place at stations along the Intercoastal Waterway, he said.

However, stations that house older pumps, which account for 54 percent of the city's overall drainage capacity, continue to rely on 25-cycle power, as do critical drinking water pumps.

Backing up that equipment with on-site diesel generators isn't feasible, Becker said. Generators, some as large as a locomotive engines, generally won't fit inside existing facilities, and expropriating private property adjacent to the stations is unlikely to sit well with neighbors.

Moreover, the 25-cycle plant includes its own redundant backup systems, though as November's incident demonstrated, they aren't 100 percent reliable.

Becker points out that it wasn't until the power plant and the drainage pumps it drives were in place that New Orleanians could pump dry the south Louisiana swamps and develop areas including Mid-City, Lakeview, Gentilly and eastern New Orleans.

Today, that same power plant means the difference between a functional city or one grappling with rampant street flooding and boil-water orders.

"The 25-cycle power system," Becker said, "is something that the city of New Orleans relies upon a great deal to exist on a daily basis."